DC Relinquishes Rights To Comic Book Series About Jesus After Conservative Backlash

Courtesy of DC Entertainment
"Second Coming" is a comic book series about Jesus and a superhero named Sun-Man, who have different approaches to saving the world. After DC Comics requested changes the writer and artist weren't comfortable with, they had the rights returned to them and are seeking another publisher.

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DC Comics has given up rights to a series featuring Jesus Christ as a superhero’s peace-loving sidekick after receiving heated backlash from conservative Christians.

The comic series, “Second Coming,” was set to debut under the DC imprint Vertigo on March 6, but the release was canceled, its co-creators confirmedon Twitter Wednesday.

Series writer Mark Russell told HuffPost that DC requested changes to the series that he and artist Richard Pace weren’t comfortable with ― including removing some profanity and covering up a nude Adam in a Garden of Eden scene. Russell said the publisher told him significant and larger changes would be coming but didn’t specify what those changes would be. DC also wanted to delay the release to an “unspecified date,” he said.

Russell and Pace requested to have rights to the series returned to them and are now seeking another publisher for the comic.

“DC was requesting these changes [regarding profanity and nudity] before FOX News set the outrage machine in motion, so it’s difficult to speculate what, if any, impact their campaign had on any of DC’s decision-making,” Russell told HuffPost in an email. “Though I imagine finding 200,000 auto-generated e-mails in your inbox can’t be too pleasant.”

“Second Coming” is a comic book series about Jesus’ return to Earth that offers cultural commentary on modern-day Christianity. God is portrayed in the series as being disappointed by Jesus’ first appearance since it resulted in Christ being crucified. Two thousand years later, God sends Jesus back to Earth to learn from Sun-Man, a superhero whom humans are worshiping. Jesus is shocked to see what Christianity has become and what has been done in his name over the centuries.

Jesus becomes Sun-Man’s roommate and tries to set the record straight about the Gospel’s teachings. In the end, the characters learn about the limitations of each other’s approach to saving the world.

Bloomberg via Getty Images
An attendee takes a photograph of DC comic book-themed shirts for sale at the South By Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, in March 2018.

Russell told HuffPost he doesn’t consider himself a Christian but is a “great admirer of Christ.” He said the series critiques the glorification of violence in superhero stories. Jesus’ message suggested that “maybe empathy and forgiveness are better tools for solving human conflict than super-strength and the ability to see through walls,” Russell said.

“[Jesus] is the counter-point to the ideology embedded in superhero stories that the only salvation for the world is the hope that the good guys are even better at violence than the bad guys,” he wrote.

On the other hand, the series also sharply criticizes Jesus’ modern-day followers. Russell said he believes churches have distorted Jesus’ message about “subverting power by living without greed or fear.”

“In this comic, Christ comes back and begins to reclaim his teachings from those who co-opted them for their own self-serving purposes,” he said.

“Can you imagine the media and political uproar if DC Comics was altering and poking fun at the story of Muhammad... or Buddha?” the petition states. “Jesus Christ is the Son of God. His story should not be ridiculed for the sake of selling comic books.”

On Thursday, CitizenGo sent out a celebratory tweet about the series being pulled from Vertigo’s lineup.

Great news! The blasphemous "Second Coming" comic deriding Jesus has been cancelled. Our petition (of over 228,000 signatures) made the difference! https://t.co/M8klGFBone

The: DC/Vertigo’s cancellation of the orders for Second Coming, just so you know, DC did not do anything untoward to me. I asked for the rights back and they gracefully agreed. They’ve been a pleasure to work with and it will still be released, albeit with a different publisher.